Gaming bill fails in House, but Joliet’s casino income still uncertain

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Updated: December 13, 2011 8:20AM

JOLIET — The future of the city’s casino business was uncertain Wednesday night despite the failure of legislation to expand gambling in Illinois.

The House rejected the slimmed-down plan 58-53, two votes short of passing and 13 short of a veto-proof majority.

“I’m surprised,” said state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, a Joliet Democrat. “I thought the bill would get 60 votes. But this is clearly a positive sign for defeating this top-heavy gaming expansion bill.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie, was also surprised, but he pledged to try again to pass it Thursday.

Keeping track of the possibilities makes it difficult for Joliet to plan its finances.

The city expects to get $22 million in casino tax money this year. In 2007, the city got $37 million. But that number started falling when the state banned smoking in casinos, sending smokers to Indiana. The recession cut into the casino business even more, as did this summer’s opening of Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.

“As those (tax revenues) have declined, we’ve had to make up the difference in property taxes,” Joliet Finance Director Rachel Mayer said.

The downward trend continues, according to the Illinois Gaming Board’s October report on casino revenues.

Rivers Casino is the top money-making casino in the state with $30.7 million in revenue for October.

Harrah’s Joliet actually came in second with $18.4 million, but that’s down 10.7 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile, Hollywood Joliet was down 7.7 percent from October 2009 with $10.4 million in revenue.

Expanding gambling in Illinois “could greatly affect the gaming revenues that we receive today,” Mayer told the city council this week as she made a case for building up the city’s reserve fund accounts to protect against sudden declines in revenues.

But the gaming expansion legislation is as uncertain a bet as anything going on in Springfield.

Joliet casino managers and city officials watch and wonder what will happen. So do legislators.

The bill that failed Wednesday was scaled back, Wilhelmi said, but still included two things Joliet least wants — a casino in south suburban Cook County and slot machines at Chicago-area horse racetracks. Both would cut into Joliet revenue.

If a similar bill passes the Legislature, the governor is likely to veto it, Wilhelmi said.

Trying to get a bead on the state’s future gaming landscape can make heads spin.

The gaming expansion bill passed by the Legislature in May was never sent to the governor out of fear he would veto it and there would not be enough votes to override.

Then, the governor crafted his own proposal this fall, which left out slot machines in race tracks. The bill rejected Wednesday keeps the slot machines in the race tracks.

Slot machines at race tracks, explained state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, “were thrown into a very large gaming bill and purposely, just to pick up the downstate vote.”

The provision makes horse racing more viable in Illinois. Rezin hears from horse breeders who want the slot machines at the race tracks, but she planned to vote against a bill that expanded gambling if it makes it to the state Senate.

“I don’t support a large expansion of gaming,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.